


The Shadow Man

by Inkribbon796



Series: Masks and Maladies [119]
Category: A Heist With Markiplier (Web Series), Jacksepticeye Power Hour (Web Series), Markiplier TV (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Bring your robotic son to work day, Footnotes, Good Friends, M/M, Visitation Day, overprotective Dark, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:40:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28808220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkribbon796/pseuds/Inkribbon796
Summary: Yancy, King, Oliver, and Mini Bing are out, testing some of M.B’s capabilities without Bing or any of the tech nerds being on top of him.Too bad they’re being followed along the way.
Relationships: Author | Host/Dr. Iplier (Markiplier TV), Bingiplier/Googleplier (Markiplier TV), Eric Derekson/Illinois (A Heist with Markiplier), darkstache
Series: Masks and Maladies [119]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538131
Comments: 28
Kudos: 18





	The Shadow Man

**Author's Note:**

> Visitation Day with Yancy.

The instant Logan, Roman, and Bing had brought Mini Bing into the base The whole base was interested in seeing him. For weeks he was the talk of the base. Logan and Jackie were endlessly interested in what he could and couldn’t do, and not just from a technical perspective. Bing claimed that his ability to dance and skate were some of the first movement programs he was given.

Logan was skeptical on how literal that proclamation was. But Mini Bing had been developed, mostly in secret for years so Logan wasn’t really an expert on what Bing had or had not programmed him with.

After a couple of more weeks of Bing testing his _“little Mini Me”_ Bing and Oliver deemed him fit for another field test.

So Yancy was out with King and Oliver as they took Mini Bing on a patrol. His first patrol. Jackie had initially been in the base’s communications room with Logan, Joan, and Bing but had gotten a bit antsy and worried and had started shadowing the group.

Oliver was acting like a proud father, treating everything Mini did as a big achievement. Right now they were making sure he knew the entire layout of the city and what known gangs or demons controlled what parts of the city.

“And this is where Dark’s territory ends,” Mini pointed to the sidewalk across the busy highway.

“Perfect,” Oliver told him. “You see that Bing?”

_“Crystal, babe,”_ Bing’s voice cracked in all their ear pieces. _“Doin’ great Mini Me.”_

Mini sent a little image to the hero’s communication screen of Mini, giving them two thumbs up and winking on eye, his sunglasses perched on his head.

“Heyyyy, that’s my extension,” Bing praised, standing in front of the communication console, Logan sitting on one side, and Joan on his other. “Take another round and make sure everything’s okay. If you run into any trouble, give them my best.”

_“Always, dude!”_ Mini’s voice answered back, and Bing was all proud smiles.

“Isn’t he just the best?” Bing praised even though the relay was no longer open on their end and Mini couldn’t hear him.

“I still can’t believe you can just make more of yourselves,” Joan told him, turning their body to look at the android.

“Don’t tell the others but I think Mini’s the only one I can make,” Bing said reluctantly.

“Is there a reason for that, Google has three extensions?” Logan turned his chair to look at Bing.

“Yeah, well,” Bing faltered a bit. “Google’s better built than me.”

“Come on, you’re built just fine,” Joan told him.

“No,” Bing said. “Google’s right, I’m a default, there a lot I wasn’t made to do, I’ve had to reprogram myself from the ground up.”

Bing brought up a couple schematics of one of the Googles, “I mean just look at Ollie here. This is a ****ing awesome extension. His coolants and programs just sing right.”

“Okay, Thrist McGee,” Joan chuckled, nudging their shoulder into Bing’s. “We get it, Ollie and the Google’s are cool shit and all, but so are you. You still built Mini by yourself.”

Bing smiled and lightly nudged Joan back.

Back with the patrol group everything was going alright. There wasn’t anything major, a slight argument that dispersed before the heroes could even decide to involve themselves.

While they were walking, Yancy’s hands shoved into his pockets as he followed at the back of the group, he caught something out of the corner of his eyes. A dark whisky cloud that he initially thought was Dark.

Which would have made sense, since Dark tended to shadow them when he could. And when Yancy stopped and turned to turn his head he thought it was.

“Hey Old Man,” Yancy held up his hand and the whole group came to a sudden halt, “we’re alright, just—”

Yancy froze, that wasn’t Dark. It looked just like him, pale beige suit, a tie as red as blood and eyes completely blackened. And the instant Yancy realized he wasn’t Dark he disappeared into a puff of black almost impossibly oozing smoke. The last thing to disappear was his bone white smile.

Yancy jumped back, recognizing that smile. It was the Shadow Man that had lingered around the Manor like an unwanted specter.

What was it doing outside of the Manor? It had never been seen by the kids outside of the Manor. Only at the edge of the tree line, never actually in the trees.

But then again, Dark had never let them get close enough to prove that assertion right.

“Yanc what happened?” King ran over, noticing that Yancy was clutching onto his sleeve. “Ollie, take Mini and run!”

Dark ripped open a portal in an instant and ran through, looking around for anything strange before his eyes landed on the alleyway where _“the Shadow Man”_ had been.

“Marc,” Dark seethed in absolute contempt and threw the heroes through a portal. Oliver and Mini were dropped right outside the base, but Yancy and King were sent into King’s old room in the Manor.

Yancy landed on the floor but King landed in one of his stuffed animal piles, knocking it over.

“Fuck!” King shouted in anger. “He didn’t even ask!”

Then his fury cooled a bit when he looked back at Yancy. “Yanc, what’s wrong?”

“I—“ Yancy faltered.

King was reaching up towards the top of his wall to grab a blue water bear plushie, the eyes huge, and pass it over to Yancy who gratefully took it. King took some of the mammalian plushies that were on the ground in giant piles. He liked to arrange them in order of the evolutionary line from the ceiling down.

“Yancy you need to talk to me so I can help,” King reminded. Then they were interrupted by the crackly, broken signal of Bing’s voice in their ears. “We’re fine, we’re just in the Manor. Yancy’s not doing well.”

Whether or not the other heroes heard him, he wasn’t sure because there wasn’t a response.

It took a bit more coaxing before Yancy was fully able to calm down. “I’s[1] saw him. The Shadow Man.”

“What, where?” King asked, sitting down next to Yancy.

“On some street,” Yancy told him. “On patrol.”

“But he lives in the Manor,” King reminded.

“Yeah,” Yancy agreed.

“He’s never been outside the house,” King looked worried.

“I’s[1] know,” Yancy nodded.

“Shit,” King cursed. “Is he a demon then?”

Illinois raced in, still in his tweed suit, meaning he’d been working in the Network when he was pulled through. “Is everyone okay? Bim, Yan, and I were in Wil’s studio. And Bim is pissed.”

“I’s[1] saw the Shadow Man, in town,” Yancy told him. “He’s was just there an’ I’s don’t feel so good.”[2]

“Okay, okay,” King tried to cut his brother off as Illinois was thinking, his mind running along a similar thought train that King’s had just a couple minutes earlier. “What type of _“not feel good?”_ Like a _“I want to vomit”_ or an _“I’m back in Ohio”_ I don’t feel good?”

“Both,” Yancy admitted, terrified.

That jolted Illinois out of his very troubled thoughts, “Okay, what do you need, want to go out to the balcony?”

Yancy gave a shaky nod and King and Illinois helped him out to the balcony, and Yancy proceeded to absolutely destroy his way through his box of cigarettes. His hands shaking with both the mental strain he was going through and the rush of nicotine. The three brothers sitting in chairs on the balcony with Yancy on the biggest one, a supportive silence in the air between them.

Which was exactly the state that Wilford found them when he walked out onto the balcony.

“Oh sweetie,” Wilford gasped. Before Yancy could react to his presence, Wilford gave him a hug and Yancy stiffened before he leaned into the embrace. He let out a shuttering exhale as Wilford aura, without Wilford trying to do anything, began calming Yancy down.

“I-Illy!”

Illinois jumped up and raced into the house, seeing a very terrified Eric standing in the living room. “Eric, _dulcito,_ what are you doing here?”

Eric was sobbing as he almost flew into Illinois’s arms. “I . . . I was on p-patrol and . . . uhm Dark came out of nowhere.”

“I don’t know whether to be pissed at him or thankful, he thinks someone he hates in town,” Illinois explained quickly, leading Eric towards the balcony. “He was trying to protect you, he was just being an ass about it.”

While they were walking back, Illinois saw the Host standing next to the balcony door with Dr. Iplier who looked all kinds of angry and frustrated.

“Host, do you know if we’re actually in danger?” Illinois demanded.

“Illinois and his family should consider this an emergency drill, while the Actor was in town he was testing how close he could get to people.” The Host looked a bit worried. “It will take another three hours for the Entity to calm down enough for the Host to convince him that the danger has passed, the Host thought he should bring himself and his doctor to the Manor before the Entity became desperate to drag them there himself.”

“If it’s the same guy who’s been haunting the place for years, then he’s gotten in here before,” Illinois reminded Host. “The Manor’s not any safer than anywhere else.”

“The Entity does not have that perception, and today at least what matters to him is that his family is safe,” the Host explained.

Illinois groaned frustration, Eric squeezed his hand and Illinois looked back at him.

“The Host suggests that Illinois stay in the house or on the grounds until the Entity returns,” the Host warned.

The adventurer took Eric into the living room, and made them both some tea. Eric fell asleep, bundled up next to Illinois. His prosthetics were on the ground in front of him.

It was a while before Dark stomped through a portal, his aura shrill and startling Eric awake. Dark looked pissed but unharmed, he actually apologized for startling Eric and walked out to coddle Yancy who was calm enough himself.

While Dark was calmer it took much longer to convince him to let the people who didn’t live in the Manor go, very hesitant to let them all go back to what they were doing. Host and Illinois argued their points enough and Dark stormed into his office, slamming the door behind him. A portal silently opened up in the living room in his wake.

Illinois gave Eric a kiss as he left, immediately going into Dark’s office to try and smooth over his very injured ego.

**Author's Note:**

> Accessibility Translations  
> 1\. I  
> 2\. He was just there and I don’t feel so good.


End file.
